“I think I was 1 out 5 people in my graduating class of 400 that could drive a stick.”
See my point Hoosier???
Those manuals are the way to go if you REALLY want the best bang for you buck.
I’ll make one more point…When my wife and I were dating I had an endless stream of stick shift cars,
Mazda RX-7’s, MGB’s, Air Cooled VW bugs, more Honda Civic’s and Accord’s than I can remember…(I was a car dealer at this time) I would BEG her to learn to drive a stick…She just wasn’t interested…So she never learned…The result???
There’s a 1988 Ferrari 328GTS sitting in my garage right now that she would LOVE to drive…But she isn’t LEARNING on a car with a $5000 clutch in it…So…She rides in it. It’s not a huge issue, she understands there’s no sense in LEARNING to drive a standard in a high performance car. But NOW she regrets not learning on cheap cars I was selling anyway. (I softened the blow by picking her up a nice summer car, a Boxster with a tiptronic auto trans which she LOVES)
At some point in your real estate buying career, you are going to look at a house and the owner of that home is going to open the garage and in it you will SEE and be able to BUY some kind of magnificent vehicle that goes extremely fast, looks like a super model, and is something MOST PEOPLE in their LIFETIMES will never SIT IN, never mind OWN and DRIVE…My FERRARI came to me in this exact situation. It would have SUCKED when that owner offered me the keys for a test drive, and I had to say…
I CAN’T DRIVE A STANDARD. :banghead :banghead :banghead :flush :flush :help :help\
Instead… I was able to roll that car into the deal to buy his house. I made $75K profit on the house and thus got the Ferrari for FREE!!! Yea, I would have made more if the Ferrari wasn’t involved but Hey…I’m willing to make certain “SACRIFICES.”
My son learned to drive and took his drivers test in my 1998 Acura Integra 5 speed. When we finished rebuilding his 1986 Porsche 944 he was able to hop in and drive away as smooth as silk. In my earlier post I mentioned helping one of his friends buy a car a few weeks ago. We passed on one or two good deals because they were stick and he couldn’t drive them.
As it has already been mentioned, go with the stick to get a deal.
All of my vehicles are stick except my low millage 98 accord. I may convert it to a 5 speed if I have to replace the auto on it, honda had some troublesome trannies on that model run.
My daily commuter car is a 5 speed 95 ford escort wagon I picked up for 1250.00 from an old lady in my neighborhood. The engine had 78k on it and was used as one of those RV string along vehicles you usually see. I’ve had it for over a year, as a commuter car, and I think I’ve got a little over 100 bucks into it and I’m pretty hard on it. It’s got a few annoyances, but over all it’s only a few notches below my hondas in the way it’s holding up, but it’s a lot more comfortable. I’ve had coworkers laugh at me, tenants don’t think I’m a rich landlord, women laugh at me, a confused boss and great gas millage. It’s got plenty of space to put in tools, large items (I’m amazed at how much can fit in it), I can park it where ever I want, it’s good in snow and has no visible rust. The engines on these things tend to blow valve seats, but if it happens, and I want to keep the thing, I can easily pick up a low millage engine for around 300 bucks and put it in.
I agree with the others try to fix the issue if it’s a few hundred bucks and get a few more years out of it. If not, I would recommend trying to find a 91-95 escort in good condition. You should be able to easily pick one up for less than 2 grand. If not, try to pick up a well kept 90’s early 2000 civic, corolla or altima. Buy from white collar owners in their mid 30’s and up, looking to get rid of their cars because they bought something else after owning the car for a number of years. These people usually take care of their cars and you can easily get 400k miles out of a well serviced engine. I once saw a 95 civic with 600k miles on it used as a pizza delivery vehicle with every body part a different color. Honda was truly at the top of their game during those years. Stay away from civics owned by males in their 20’s, they always seem to think they can create a 5 second car by frankensteining it. :rolleyes
As already mentioned, be patient with your search and in the future always be on the look out for a replacement car before your current one dies. I always like to keep good spares around. :smile
I just found 4 of them on craigslist for under $1500 each. I had a few of those and they ran great and forever. A friend of mine had one with 300K+ miles on it. He LOVED that car because it cost him NOTHING to run.
by jmd_forest
My 1998 Acura Integra has around 220K miles on it and still runs great even though it looks like a real POS.
Those B series engines can sure take one hell of a beating. I always wonder what sort of abuse the Japanese put these engines through during the design phase.
My 94 civic has a D series with 250k hard miles on it and still runs like a top, I’ve been wanting to pick up a cheap low millage Japanese pull out for it, but it’s doesn’t look like it wants to die anytime soon. :biggrin The unfortunate part about these cars is the body rust. I’ve gotta cut out part of the back quarter panels on each side and re weld some sheet in them, but otherwise I think they are great dependable commuter cars.
I really think these are perfect for investors. You can get them cheap, they are great on gas millage, you can rack up lots of miles while looking at property and tenants/sellers will never suspect you have a bank account that would make a Las Vegas gambler learn how to do the Michael Jackson moon walk impersonation. :biggrin
REIER…I almost spit my ice water all over my computer after reading your last post. That was some funny stuff! :beer
I agree with you 100% about the “sleeper car theory” I have a 2001 Dodge Dakota with 174K on it. Runs great, ice cold A/C, power everything, nice comfortable truck and NO ONE looks twice at it.
Last week I pulled up in my Dodge at a house to meet the owner. He walked me through the house and I made him a written offer. He said he had one other guy coming by to look at it. I ALWAYS make a point to dress down for these meetings. A clean T shirt with clean jeans and work boots. I learned years ago that people in financial stress don’t like dealing with people in $1500 suits. As I was shaking the owners hand some dope in a new Mercedes pulls up and gets out with a gold Rolex on and a shiny suit. I thanked the owner for his time and told him I wished him luck.
15 minutes later my phone rang, It was the owner calling to tell me he would be taking my offer. He told me Mr. Mercedes had spent the entire time nit picking every single thing that was wrong with the house. Before they got to the basement the owner threw him out!!!
As soon as this guy saw that Mercedes he looked pissed off.
I think he thought I was more like him. Just a working guy that fixes old houses and drives a pickup.
He’d drop dead if he knew I had a Ferrari.
Dont wanna hijack the thread you all have going… just thought I’de update my car issue.
I tried driving it to work today, and it drove pretty good. Right when I start it, it seems to not want to accelerate, but after about 100 feet or so, it starts taking off just fine.
My cars life may not be over, just may need a simple repair.Im going to have somebody good look at it my next day off though.
This is good because I really didnt want to cut into my savings quite yet. :beer
If it runs better as it warms up it could be just a cold start sensor or gunked up fuel injectors. Try running a pint of Chevron Fuel injector Cleaner through the car with a half a tank of Premium fuel. Pour the fuel injector cleaner into the gas tank right before you put in the gas. Then just drive the car normally. Dirty fuel injectors can make a car run like sh*t on cold start as the computer is telling the injectors to dump in maximum fuel.
Fdjake is right on as a starting point. I do an extensive amount of “shade tree repairs” to the point that I could probably get a job as a mechanic. When working with a problem that is elusive to diagnose or you just don’t have the proper diagnostic equipment, start with the cheap easy stuff and work your way up to the tough expensive stuff. That’s just good old common sense.
A bottle of fuel injector cleaner often does wonders for a poor running modern engine and if it doesn’t help … your out a whole $2.50.
Another option might be to go to the local Autozone and get a free readout of the check engine light (assuming one is on).
Again, from the little info Hoosier has been able to tell us, I’d still try looking for a large vacuum leak or the Mass Air Flow Meter.